Ask HN: What movies changed your perception of reality or life?
What movie changed your perception of reality or life, and how?
It's such a subtle movie, that it works on multiple levels at the same time. I got to level 2 on the first viewing, but only years later assimilated level 3.
At level 1 it's a simple Romcom movie - boy stuck in a time loop needs to earn girl's love.
Level 2 is that we are all stuck in a time loop. Everyone is functionally living the same day over and over. Same job, same relationships, same everything. (There's even a scene in the movie where Phil describes his predicament and thd barfly replies "welcome to my life".)
Level 3 is even more meta. Because Phil is the only person -not- living the same day. All around him everyone else is the same, but he's evolving. We see him learning piano, and ice-sculpting and so on. He evolves emotionally, and is trying new things. He moves from being self-centred to focused on others.
The genius of the movie, and Murray's performance, is that it's buried, never forced. You're left to figure it out yourself. It's a work of art, disguised as something trivial.
It's easy to dismiss it, as a simple story. Discovering the underlying insights takes thought.
Incidentally it also pioneered the "time loop" genre. As far as I know, certainly for mainstream-me, it was the first to use this plot device.
While as a kid I would say that I wanted to be downloaded into a video game when I died, the idea that was already the case never even entered my mind.
Even after watching the movie, I was just like "oh man, that's such a neat idea" but still didn't think it was actually the case.
It wasn't until years later reading Nick Bostrom's work that I started to seriously entertain it, and only then as I considered it more seriously (and as things progressed in parallel) that it became a predominant belief.
But for a movie to set in motion a complete shift in how one sees the world and their place in it is a pretty remarkable accomplishment, even if it still required a ton of additional pieces thereafter to arrive.
Both of these were written stories first, but I first encountered them as movies.
Arrival. I really enjoyed the idea that learning something new could lead to other changes in perception that you wouldn’t think are related. It also led me to other works from Ted Chiang, each of which brought unexpected mind bending concepts.
Solaris. Teaches the lesson that we need to accept that there may be things we just aren’t able to understand.
I would strong suggest reading the Ted Chiang short story on which it is based: Stories of your Life.
Spoilers ahead:
The movie necessarily makes some changes and adds some action through geopolitics, but at its core it remains the story of a mother that knows that her child will die and her marriage will fall apart; yet she still decides to get married and have a child. It's a story about accepting fate and the ephemerality of life and happiness - and then aliens also happen to be around with a very cool perspective on time to make the whole story work.
I like the story, but I find it profoundly sad that she has to live through her marriage and birth of her child with the knowing of what is coming.
I can’t find the article, but there was a HN post sometime ago that was a beautifully written memorial to the death of a pet dog. Why do we invest in loving pets that we know we will outlive? Particularly as adults, when we know the end from the beginning. Does the whole become worthless because the end is pain? No! Embrace life - the joy and the grief.
There are a number of movie directors who really deliver a cinematic experience and mess with your head: David Cronenberg, Terry Gilliam, David Lynch, Quentin Tarantino, to name a few contemporaries. I return to a handful of their films again and again. Many very re-watchable.
I think it's worth adding here a few playwrights who have made films scripts: Stephen Poliakoff and David Mamet.
I want to shout out to a classic director: Michelangelo Antonioni. He flipped my lid. He really captures something for me with his cinematography and the quiet emotional tension he gets from his actors. Blow Up (1966), LaAvventura (1960) are my favs.
But there is also a scene (which I cannot find online) where the main character (a playwright) is explaining that the only way to make his play work is to make everybody a main character. He realizes that everybody, everywhere, is living out a rich life and that they're the main character of that life.
It is a fantastic movie and i highly recommend it.
I love Philip Seymour Hoffman (RIP), but I found Synecdoche, New York to be sooo incredibly anti-interesting in its multiple layers of ironically unironic self-indulgence that I really truly hated the film.
I have never had such a strongly negative reaction to any other movie. I'm having trouble thinking of a somehwat-close second. Maybe Blue Velvet?
If I heard someone else say that, I'd imagine that they had missed something, or just didn't "get it", but I don't think that's the case! :)
There are others, but it's been a while, and my memories of it are mercifully fading. I prefer to not interfere with that process!
If the goal of art is to induce thought and make an impression, these are both successful projects. :)
This film has haunted me with its beauty. Not as airy as Mallick's work, a little softer than Aronofsky (The fountain, black Swan are masterpieces).
I think Mr. Nobody attempts a weaker version of this film, cloud atlas also.
Gattaca, inception, 2001, kpax maybe.
I grew up in a rough neighborhood, in high school my view was limited and I thought there is no going out of trouble, being a black sheep of the family, etc. I saw that movie, and I felt hope for the first time and started making changes for myself.
> You wasted $150,000 on an education you could've got for $1.50 in late fees at the public library.
Is just fantastic. A public library isn't a complete replacement for a college education, but in terms of knowledge gained, books are the _core_ of learning. Most of the learning I did in college came from reading a text book, or the instructor going over information in the text book. Assignments are important to help apply ideas, but many books have problem sets too.
Books (and other resources like video these days) are such an incredibly valuable resource and we've done a great job at making them available via libraries (of course there are the issues we hear about with publishers trying to fight against libraries, but in general, libraries are still fantastic). Reading has been a key to my educating myself post university. The only thing more valuable that I've found is real world experience.
Male grief is never portrayed with the kind of nuance and empathy that it deserves.
Now, I've started reaching out to my friends more often and offering support in a manner that only a fellow man can.
Lastly, it loosened me up. I didn't have to bottle things up and be a pillar for other people. I can now be weak when I was in my weakest moments, and not percieve it as a weakness. (Holy alliteration)
I guess I get the idea, but in what ways can only a fellow man provide support?
It's the difference between letting grief out and letting grief in.
I owe many women close to me, who've helped me process complex emotions. But they've primarily focused on helping let emotions out.
I suspect women don't struggle with letting grief in as often. It is more common for this to be a male experience. Helping a man feel safe enough to slowly let grief in, is a delicate exercise in patience and silence. I hadn't seen it represented this well in visual form before.
It was also instrumental in helping me detect when I myself was refusing to let emotions in. Now I can tell if I'm running away from a sense of loss/negative emotion. It helps me extend that same patience towards myself.
Thank you.
Nobody actually knows what it will be, except terrible for all the belligerents.
It's a movie I seem to go back to, to understand more about it and how the different story lines are connected. The philosophy aspect of this film I find appealing and it made think about reality differently although I wouldn't call myself a believer of such things.
I think the complicated story/narrative threw a lot of people off from appreciating it
Really good movie to re-watch multiple times, the scope of that movie is crazy
I have some routine (not sure what to call it) where I take a context (by lack of better words) then work backwards.
This topic had me wonder what great lessons or insights in (my) life have not at all been captured by any movie. What followed was like an eruption of great movie ideas. What each movie really needs is at least one amazing plot twist. Nothing really accomplishes that the way changing the viewers perception of life does.
Ill do a crude example but it probably doesn't do justice to the raw idea.
I discover one day that you can always increase your spending to match your income and at the end of your money have a chunk of month left.
I discover that selling your brain in a job leaves your free time without one.
I also discover one day that physical activity is not optional.
I talk with a very successful business man who one day discovered that his chair in front of the TV is only a few meters away from his car and that his personal parking spot is only a few meters from his personal office. After some 30 years he had to walk 150ish meters to the other end of the building and was absolutely exhausted. Only then he realized he didn't get any physical activity at all.
One could forge a plot from that where the protagonist progresses from wealth, a highly successful career, weak and depressed all the way to a shit physical job with crappy pay. The villa, the cars, the credit card wife, the fake friends, it all has to go. Why internet if one can read books. Why drive if one can walk in the rain?
(come to think of it, wasn't that the plot of 1999's "Office Space"?)
The trailer basically gives away the plot twist.
By the end of the movie, I was almost entirely on the side of the culture and their behavior made complete sense to me. During the course of the movie I experienced a shift of position and perspective and continues to affect me 4 years later.
All the token others… Pi, Memento, Waking Life, Fight Club, Requiem for a Dream, etc. etc.
I felt like Midsommer was the best interesting film in decades.
The Discovery - 2017 - The thought that we keep doing things over in an imperceptible manner until we get it right, is haunting
Ferris Bueller's Day Off - 1986 - "Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it." - It told me I could be a little less serious about things, and have more fun
About Time - 2013 - The lesson is to try to roll with whatever happens, and relax
I studied it at uni and wrote an essay where I explained that the main character couldn't be a symbol of both fascism AND a film director, because that would mean the director was calling himself a fascist. My lecturer's response was something like "why not?".
I was a very black-and-white thinker at that time, and his response was eye-opening for me.
It's fascinating how he was begging some investor about how he had to make the movie Fitzcarraldo, because if he didn't, his life would be purposeless (I do hope I'm remembering this right). It got me wondering how he got away with things like forcing his crew to carry tonnes of ship over a mountain, but, also why shouldn't he get away with it, why should there be a strict construct of what's allowed or not.
The last one is a documentary about the war in Ukraine. The actual raw uninterpreted reality of things that we read about in history books or in the news changes your perspective on many things, from politics to simple things in life that we often take for granted.
News stories force an agenda on you. History books may give you some knowledge about the reality we live in today. THIS lets you live through the traumatic experience of the history books and news story events.
This "documentary" does the same - force the agenda - perhaps even more so.
History books can potentially teach how to avoid this kind of conflicts. They are not emotionally appealing - unlike "documentaries", and likely less interesting, but we need to read one to avoid making another
Some argue that Shakespeare didn't invent any new plot or narrative structures.
Others argue that all western philosophical work on ethics after greeks is in its essence just commentary to the new testament.
From my perspective not much new was said about ontology, monotheism and logic of truth after https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parmenides
I am no expert but just by extrapolation - if i see a new idea, chances are it is new only from my not educated enough perspective.
This is not about science, I imply the discussion is about fiction, stories and philosophy.
(I suggest you familiarise yourself better with Ἡράκλειτος? Come to think of it, even Mr. "nothing new under the sun" admitted that the race is not always to the swift, nor the battle to the strong; there's biblically always room for surprise.)
Keep it up.
Speaking of modern western civilization.
Im sure eastern has its own sources and ideas, just not familiar with it.
I tried to like Anon, but I didn't. Same thing with another one his movies, "In Time"
Lord of War was good, inspired by true events.
> Vincent: You wanna know how I did it? This is how I did it Anton. I never saved anything for the swim back.
TLDR: The Wachowskis who wrote and directed the film, later became trans. There's a lot of closet trans themes hidden in the film (closet gays/lesbians can relate as well).
https://twitter.com/genericeddie/status/1659081857793769472
https://web.archive.org/web/20060115061830/http://www.rollin...
That the media and government create a propaganda narative, a fake reality we live in.
The red pill has become a symbol of breaking out of all the progressives lies.
Then yes after that we need a bit of both, both sides have their pathologies.
We live in a narative whether we like it or not, but once we understand that we can more easily take control of it.
But then as I grew older and read the book and gained more life experience in general, I appreciated it differently, the deeper meaning, anti-satire, realness and broader narrative as I then started to understand it, seeing things about society through the lens of the characters and with an understanding of why we have order and laws and a system. I thought I was maturing or being some higher intellectual.
But then as I got even older and gained even more wisdom and experience, I realized the teenager appreciated aspects were really the true and tangible message, and it was because of the truth that was revealed. I came full circle and realized the returning to nature was the real answer all along, and appreciated the anarchy again and even more fully but now for an entirely different reason.
Oh and READ THE BOOK! It is the only time in my life where I was not disappointed after reading the book that I had watched a movie before reading the book actually, just try hard not to catch any spoilers on differences between the book and the movie!
I am Jack's nodding in approval.
as we are born into a civilisation taking for granted that exploitation of other live beings is something natural and ethically acceptable / neutral.
Unfortunately, our lifestyle decisions tend to support a machninery of suffering only comparable to nazi concentration camps.
oh, and speaking of, if you lived far enough (temporarily / culturally / geographically) it's good to recall once in a while what atrocites humans are capable of, even in regards to other humans:
"Zone of Interest" - fresh movie about everyday life in proximity of death camps
I dont know, but probably the last great American "film". Shot on monochrome and depicting American history in raw and surreal way. The industry soon moved on to mainly digital video. Although many contemporary directors still shoot on film. Nolan for one.
Depression runs in our family and the portrayal of it was phenomenal, especially when they measure the size of the moon. From outer perspective they are told all will be fine but they aren't convinced and in the end it seems all the doom and gloom was justified - just how a depressive mind naturally is pulled towards the negative and creates self fulfilling prophecies.
Deep deep film.
I actually liked The 6th Day when it comes to ideas of our "natural" view on identity and ownership of individual assets etc.
Matrix, of course, for its search for reality/truth behind ones inherited perceptions, no matter what consequences (there are more ideas in the movies, though).
even if they're not actually human, we still are
I'll just add Hitchcock's The Birds.
I saw it as a kid and it made an impression on me on several levels. For instance, a scary movie doesn't have to be about monsters. And made me realise that other living beings aren't in this planet just to be either food or pets, they're our neighbours.
I saw it in the movie room at a con, and learned:
(a) there was a world of sci-fi beyond the US
(b) it's possible to follow a movie with neither subs nor dubs
(c) the Itano Circus (板野サーカス) was unlike anything I'd ever seen on screen
I was once in Kanazawa and randomly walked into the phonograph museum. They had a room there where you could pick an LP from a pile and play it on a phonograph. I grabbed one from a box at random, and the music was amazing - I had no idea what it was at the time. Turned out it was the Macross DYRL OST. That got me hooked.
Can't describe this without giving it away.
Love the setting, the casual nature of the gathering, and how it draws you in with the premise, and always leaves the imagination running wild.
Does he actually learn from his experiences, and chooses to be the man that he is? Or did his experiences literally whittle him down to the person that he has become.
In essence: Is he the embodiment of a mankind that witnesses the consequences of its actions, or is he the very antithesis of it (telling in the way that he distinguishes himself from others, whilst being extremely humane in every interaction).
On a lighter note: I also wonder if he can juggle and do a backflip, or if he could and these skills were lost to time.
In the same way that many of us are defined by a childhood that we barely remember, I wonder if his generosity and kindness is born from a blur of unconscious experiences he barely remembers.
A River Runs through It. Even more so the book, but the movie gets the job done: the meanings of our experiences only make sense once their dust has settled.
The Leftovers. I'm going to cheat a little and say a TV show here. Better than anything else, it draws a connection between the philosophical immensity of things like 2001/Interstellar and the real drama of everyday human lives.
It features a middle-class family living in Taipei. Each of them at different stages of life. There is no central drama except that they are alive. It's a beautiful movie that makes you meditate on the human condition.
Helped me not take life so seriously. And that being super smart isn't the end-all-be-all. You can have a totally excellent time just being kind to others. In fact, kindness is probably the most important thing to be.
"The final frontier isn't space. Space can be explorer without meaning. The final frontier is our minds, it's how we take things in that defines us."
It impacted me deeply.
A Most Violent Year
Barry Lyndon
Breaking the Maya Code
Equilibrium
Margin Call
Moonfall
Good Kill
Godzilla vs Kong
Inception
Seven Days in May
Simone
The Leopard / Il Gattopardo
Trudell
Until the End of the WorldWalter Mitty and Big Year, similar adventures about people chasing their silly passions (but not fatally).
Transcendence, Her, and Robot and Frank, some of the very few AI-optimistic movies. I've always believed in the transformative social good of AI, since I first heard of the Borg, but most people and media are staunchly against it. It was nice to see a more friendly viewpoint.
I really enjoyed Arrival too and hope we have an experience like that someday, but the whole time travel thing was a turnoff.
Warning: not a good times film.
But it is beautiful in profound and sad ways. It deepened my appreciation for the good circumstances I have been fortunate to enjoy in my life.
I’ve always been one to recognize a lot of absurdities in life, but this movie got me asking: “What if the absurd false dichotomies are the feature that influential people use over their supporters to test their power and loyalty?”
I’ve also been asking myself, what other absurdities do I still not see and how can I systematically detect those absurdities?
The narative structure is hard to get the first time you watch the movie, but once you get it, it can change the way you see (the/our) nature.
- The Secret of NIMH.
Saw it the first time at 4 or 5 and was in awe, but it tooks several more years to understand it fully.
- The Truman Show.
It's basically my life.
- Akira.
No particular reason, except it's the first Manga which gets international recognition and propulsed the industry in the grown-up domain.
What would aliens be like if they've existed a billion years longer than us?
Made me move out of the city and off grid, buy a dog and find satisfaction in the simple life.
How do I describe this without giving it away?
Sügisball - an Estonian movie that introduced me to the works of Bohren & der Club of Gore, now my favorite band https://letterboxd.com/film/autumn-ball/
Fitzcarraldo - Werner Herzog moves hell and earth in this film https://letterboxd.com/film/fitzcarraldo/
Chungking Express and In the Mood for Love - Wong Kar-Wai's movies affected me so much that when I went to Hong Kong about half my trip was just looking for the filming locations https://letterboxd.com/film/chungking-express/ & https://letterboxd.com/film/in-the-mood-for-love/
UHF - Probably the reason I like underdogs https://letterboxd.com/film/uhf/
Dakota 38 (documentary about a 330-mile memorial run/ride for the Lincoln-ordered execution of 38 (and later two more) Dakota people on December 26, 1862. The full movie is on YT, and here's an MPR article about it: https://www.mprnews.org/story/2022/12/23/descendants-of-exec... This impacted me because I grew up in MN, didn't learn this in school, and it reminded me that indigenous Americans are still around despite efforts by dominant American culture to squash them.
I've had issues dealing with the concept of death and this movie helped me more than anything else. The panic attack scenes resonated quite hard and the end message left a lasting impact.
"Every path is the right path. Everything could've been anything else. And it would have just as much meaning."
I didn't learn anything new (I read American Prometheus), but seeing the affair dramatized so well was pretty moving.
it felt like more of an attack against academia and the forward march of scientific "progress" than specifically towards government. The character Oppenheimer has his own issues specifically with government, but it's moreso that by that point, he has decided not to blindly agree with the status quo and so has become a threat. Oppenheimer is portrayed as part of the problem after around the 3/4 mark though. "I feel I have blood on my hands"
When I said government, I should have more accurately said politics. Or even humanity. It is depressing to me that we can get ourselves into a situation where using a weapon of that magnitude can be the reasonable course of action.
Total Recall made me question the self
Starship Troopers made me question patriotism
I'm a sucker for Verhoeven's sci-fi flicks.
It shows that people who do bad things might have plausible reasons. It makes me think about how we usually only see the negative actions and not the circumstances that lead to them. It also considers whether most of us might react similarly, or if the real villains are those who manipulate others into doing these bad things.
I still think of it as the most (the only?) “grown up” movie I’ve ever seen in its incredible realism.
I saw it many years ago in an art house theater, but oddly have never even heard a mention of it since.
-> no man is an island
The Florida Project
-> precariousness of many lives
Waves (2019)
-> ambition & parenting
As a teenager: - Syriana - The Matrix - Fight Club - Before Sunrise
People’s relationship with technology for its ability to solve your every need and desire will be commonplace.
especially the scene where Auggie tells his friend (Paul) to... slow down. https://youtu.be/JGV_h36uZ5E
at the time, it felt society was telling me to 'speed up', get this done, achieve that, yayaya.. but I sorta preferred taking the slower route. This scene helped cement that mindset. Tall trees grow slow.
Having pass through a depression myself, the one which hit me most was Aftersun (by Charlotte Wells, 2022). It made me realize how silently mental illness affects one and their surroundings.
Premise: Everyone disappears from Earth without a known reason, except for 3 people.
This movie made me realize that everything we do is connected to other people. That awareness changed everything for me.
I liked the book. I loved the movie.
I personally believe that infinity is a wonderful concept and so honestly anything is possible. Even the impossible.
How would we treat aliens if they arrived?
The Heart is a Lonely Hunter
Sophies Choice
English Patient
Master and Commander
The Tree of Life
The Matrix
very basic answers I guess, but they are among my very favorite.
This movie gave me a new perspective on evolutionary life.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dual_(2022_film)
Not quite as heavy with the symbolism and not super-duper about dealing with terminal illness & loss like Annihilation (though… it does have more than a little of that going on). Similar feel otherwise. Also sci fi.
Maybe The High Life (2018).
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Life_(2018_film)
Another sci fi. I haven’t sorted this one out as well as I have annihilation, but I’m pretty sure it’s also best read entirely figuratively.
And of course everybody who likes brooding symbolism-heavy films really must watch The Green Knight (2021)
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Green_Knight_(film)
(That one’s not sci fi)
Solaris
Made me start to understand the bible and christianity from a scientific perspective.
From there reading the bible understanding more about the roots of our culture and seing the constant propaganda against it in the media, the movies, etc.
It's been eye opening.
Then you can read Atlass shrugged and live not by lies.
I used to be very progressive, left leaning, not anymore.
After 40 odd years avoiding such time wasters in AU, the UK, the US, Canada, etc. it was kind of odd to see a small part of the zeitgeist latch onto and elevate him.
Choose your adventure
JBP is an academic and yes he is a bit hard to understand, that doesn't mean that it's nonsense, just that it will take more time to grasp his positions.
You can start with his university class in psycology: personality and transformation, I think it's the easiest starting point.
Then map of meaning.
I much prefer his lectures, live talks and podcast to the writings that are contrived and a bit overworked to my taste.
Is there a section I should watch?
What are the arguments against him?
I have watched all his university class and most of his talk, 100's of hours of material. I am very familiar with his positions.
But when I first heard about him I had a strong reaction against his positions and his complicated language. I was primed by CBC to hate him and I was trying to find a good reason. At the same time my cursiosity was activated so I watch him more and understood more and more.
So yes, he is not easy to understand, it take a lot of effort but it's been worth it for me.
The Some More News is a bit unfair in that he's going on about something he doesn't understand - climate science. Whereas on his home turf of the Bible he's pretty good.
I mean if you'd interviewed Einstein on say salsa dancing you might have thought he's an idiot. It's not a good way to judge.
Also: Tanakh commentary.